Animation Guild & AMPTP Reach Deal

The Animation Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers announced that they have reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement. The tentative pact, which came after Local 839 IATSE reps resumed talks with AMPTP yesterday, will run from August 1, 2012 to July 31, 2015. Talks between the guild and the AMPTP broke off April 17, and last week both sides announced they would sit down June 12 for a two-day session. The new deal, which still must go to the guild’s membership for ratification, calls for a 2% annual compound wage increase. It also includes DreamWorks Animation wage minimums, new storyboard revisionist classifications and changes to the talent-development program. According to a source close to the talks, negotiations went late into the night at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks offices before a deal was reached at 1 AM. Here’s the release:

Burbank, CA – June 13, 2012 – The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE has reached tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. The labor contract, for a period from August 1, 2012 to July 31, 2015, was negotiated with animation producers represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers(AMPTP).

The contract calls for two percent (2%) annual compounded wage increases. Health, pension and IAP benefits are to be provided under the terms of the IATSE Basic Agreement, on which agreement was reached in April and which is currently awaiting a ratification vote. Other provisions of the new agreement include a new storyboard revisionist classification, and changes to the talent development program and the DreamWorks Animation wage minimums.

The Animation Guild is a local union of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE). It represents 2,800 artists, writers and technicians employed in the animation industry.

The Guild’s negotiation committee has recommended the contract to its membership for ratification. The agreement will be sent to members once contract language is drafted.

The AMPTP released the following statement as well:

Both sides worked through some difficult issues to reach an agreement that gives members of The Animation Guild the same benefits package and two percent annual wage increase as recently negotiated in the IATSE Hollywood Basic Agreement. The tentative agreement is another important step in strengthening the health plan relied on by IATSE members and their families.

6 Comments

It’s long past time to let animation writers leave 839 and be represented by the WGA.

Ed • on Jun 13, 2012 4:33 pm

Absolutely!

Jobe • on Jun 13, 2012 5:59 pm

Too bad budgets keep going down 5% every year.

Scott • on Jun 13, 2012 8:00 pm

“It’s long past time to let animation writers leave 839 and be represented by the WGA.”

Considering how badly the wga has treated them, it’s no wonder they don’t like the idea much. It’s a good thing most writers of the biggest grossing animated features are not members of the wga. A very good thing.

Writer Bob • on Jun 13, 2012 10:49 pm

“It’s a good thing most writers of the biggest grossing animated features are not members of the wga. A very good thing.”

And is it a good thing that TV animation writers never receive a nickel in residuals on episodes which re-air hundreds if not thousands of times?

Aggregator • on Jun 13, 2012 9:51 pm

Great to see that this laydown union has once again laid down and let the AMPTP rail them. Steve Hewlett must be so proud. He managed to head off an internal rebellion and get exactly what they’ve gotten every year since 1982… all while the producers have turned animation into a multibillion dollar industry without sharing a penny of it with the artists that make it. Occupy Hollywood.